III. Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Group

Head: Dr. Paweł Kapusta

Scientific Staff: Dr. Michał Adamski, Dr. Marta Hornyák, Dr. Paweł Kapusta, Dr. Jolanta Piątek, Dr. Łukasz Piechnik, Barbara Seget, Dr. Małgorzata Stanek, Prof. Anna Stefanowicz, Dr. Grażyna Szarek-Łukaszewska, Dr. Błażej Ślązak, Prof. Magdalena Żywiec

Technical Staff: Dr. Magdalena Solarska, Łukasz Wilk

Research profile

The group is engaged in research that seeks to explain relationships between organisms and their environment, and evolutionary factors and effects of these relationships. We are interested in ecological phenomena occurring at different levels of organization, from the molecular level, through individual, population and ecosystem levels, to phenomena observed on the scale of the whole biosphere. Our study objects are microscopic cyanophytes, algae and soil microorganisms, as well as mosses, vascular plants (herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees), which occur in both natural and degraded ecosystems. We are looking for answers to questions about mechanisms that govern the functioning of ecosystems and the components they are built of. What is the effect of interactions between plants and animals on the life of plants? Which factors determine the spatial and temporal patterns of reproduction in plants? How natural disturbances affect the dynamics of forest ecosystems? Which factors shape soil microbial communities? Which mechanisms are triggered in plants to protect them against pathogens? How do plants respond to air and soil pollution? How do invasive plants modify the functioning of native ecosystems? How does climate change affect the increment of wood tissue in trees and how this change is reflected in the global pattern of productivity of tree stands? What is the effect of mass blooms of cyanophytes on aquatic ecosystems? This diversity of research topics, undertaken by our group, is reflected by a wide spectrum of methods we use. They include, among others, molecular and genetic analyses, bioinformatics, quantitative and qualitative analysis of plant tissues, and of soil and water, dendrochronology and geoinformatics.